Chapter 1: Management
Farming is not just a way of life, it is also a business, and successful businesses need management. The Rainforest Alliance wants to see certified farms managed in an efficient, transparent, inclusive and economically viable manner.
In this section on management, we will zoom in on changes to the Farm Certificate Holder requirements for the management chapter and highlight relevant examples.
You can review all changes to the management requirements in the documentation found in the Resources section.
Let's now look at a few relevant changes:
A) Using the Management Capacity Assessment Tool (MCAT) is no longer mandatory
B) No more maximum number of internal inspections per day
C) Internal inspections for groups are reduced due to new sampling system after first year
D) Trainings and interval of trainings are better specified
E) Approach to providing geolocation and polygons has been adjusted
A) Management Capacity Assessment Tool (MCAT) is not mandatory anymore
The MCAT is an Excel tool to evaluate the capacity and systems of the business in several key management areas, focusing on assessing the capacity of the management of the group. The purpose of the tool is to identify areas to strengthen management capacities.
Many Certificate Holders found this tool too complex. In Standard v1.4 it is not mandatory anymore to use the MCAT. Instead, a Certificate Holder can use their own management system to document the evaluation of the management.
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The documentation can be a digital or a paper document
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This document will be asked for during internal inspection and audit
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The MCAT will remain available for those who wish to continue to use it
What is this documentation system for?
According to requirement 1.1.1, management needs to demonstrate commitment to sustainable agriculture by dedicating adequate resources and staff to the implementation of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Management also needs to regularly assess its capacity in implementing the Standard. The management documentation system serves as the basis for assessing the management plan and its progress.
B) There is no more maximum number of internal inspections per day
The requirement on the limit of internal inspections that an internal inspector can visit per day has been removed. This will allow group management to conduct more internal inspections per day in scenarios where this is feasible.
C) Internal inspections for groups are reduced due to sampling system after first year
An internal inspection system ensures that all the members of a group comply with the standard. It also serves to collect data and to assess risks.
Requirement 1.4.1 has been adapted to reduce the number of required inspections.
In the first year, internal inspections need to cover all farms as was required previously. However, for subsequent years, we are adopting a less prescriptive, more flexible approach.
Internal inspections after the first year need to cover:
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100% of large farms part of a group
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At least 35% of small farms part of a group per year, ensuring all small farms are inspected after three years. This creates a sampling system, so that each farm is visited once every 3 years and not every year as required previously.
Please note that implementation of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard still needs to be done for the whole group as the audit sample is taken from the whole group and not from the 35% that have been visited by the internal inspectors.
D) Trainings and interval of trainings are more specified and explicit
Training is an important part of the services that management provides to group members’ farm workers. Training topics and interval of trainings have been more specified in the updated Standard.
For groups:
Requirement 1.3.3 states that management needs to provide group members and workers hired by the group with services such as training, technical assistance, support in record keeping, access to inputs, and awareness-raising activities.
For trainings provided by the group management it is now specified that the following topics are treated at least yearly:
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Good Internal Inspection Practices including evaluations (for all internal inspectors)
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Training on the IPM Strategy
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Occupational Health and Safety and Emergency Procedures
For individually certified farms and large farms part of a group:
Requirement 1.3.4 states that management needs to provide group members and workers hired by the group with services such as training, technical assistance, support in record keeping, access to inputs, and awareness-raising activities.
For trainings provided by the management of large farms it is now specified that the following topics are treated at least yearly:
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Training on the IPM Strategy
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Occupational Health and Safety and Emergency Procedures
E) Approach to providing geolocation and polygons has been adjusted
The Management chapter also includes requirements for the collection of geolocation data. This data is important to allow traceability of certified products. This way, it can be ensured that they do not come from deforested areas nor from protected areas in which production is strictly forbidden. The collection of GPS polygons provides more accurate data. This data can also support farm management, for instance, in analyzing farm size for volume estimations.
In version 1.3, there was a gradual approach to collecting and providing data on geolocation and polygons. For version 1.4, this gradual approach has been removed and with that, the requirement is simplified.
For groups:
Requirement 1.2.10 states that for 100% of the farms, geolocation data for all farm units with the certified crop is available.
For at least 35% of the farms, this (geolocation data) is in the form of a GPS polygon. By the second certification audit, all farm units must have polygons.
For individually certified farms and large farms part of a group:
Requirement 1.2.11 states that a polygon is available for each farm unit.